NOTE: This is a little review I wrote as part of my film programming group after watching In the Heat of the Night. I thought I would share it here today. Note that it contains some spoilers so be aware of that if you want to watch the movie yourself. Movie reviews will not be becoming a regular thing on this blog, it’s just to have something up while I am busy on my current course.
Featured Photo: Image by Andreas Glöckner from Pixabay
I very much enjoyed watching Heat of the Night. I feel like it is a movie that was a bit ahead of its time, giving light to very current racial issues in the United States at the time of the civil rights movement, especially in the Deep South.
And I feel like the movie is even still relevant to today as well with ongoing racial issues. This movie shows how a well-respected African-American cop from the city of Philadelphia is immediately racially profiled when he happens to be passing through a town in Mississippi that has just
experienced a high-profile murder of a white businessman.
I found myself rather agitated at how the local department dealt with Virgil Tibbs, giving him little chance to defend himself and even dismissing him when he says he was a cop, as they could not possibly believe a person of such skin colour to be a cop – something very alien to such a racially
hostile town.
It quickly becomes evident that Virgil Tibbs is indeed an officer of the law but not just that, one who specialises in homicide detection. He is able to pick up on things that the local town cops easily missed, things they missed due to not having the skills of a homicide detective and also due to
incompetence and corner-cutting.
It is then funny how the chief is soon reluctantly begging Tibbs to help them with the case after all is cleared up. Understandably he is not at all interested in helping people who are willing to be so racist and disrespectful towards him, it is only after his superior pushes him to assist that he takes it up.
I don’t blame his reluctant behaviour. The town alone is clearly dangerous for African-Americans due to the general view of people towards blacks as well as sympathies and even active involvement with the infamous Ku Klux Klan. The movie even shows us Tibbs almost getting lynched by some of these racists.
We also see how he has to face the exploitation of African-Americans on a plantation in the area against the racist powerful and influential businessman Endicott. Even though slavery is no longer legal many African-Americans are still being exploited in similar roles as they have little other opportunity, and face discriminatory laws. Tibbs shows his dissatisfaction of the natural treatment and attitude towards him from Endicott by hitting him.
We also get to see the development of the chief Gillespie during this movie. He is evidently racist and shows a lack of care in his general duty. It is the vibe of a Conservative town where not much usually happens. The chief eventually comes around to Tibbs, although remains defensive. But he does spill some of his personal life in regards to loneliness.
The chief’s character development shows he can be a better man than he is, but that at the same time he seems to hold himself back at points, falling to bigotry and external pressures, and is struggling with his own demons. His two big moments were not arresting Tibbs when he had been
baited into hitting the exploitative plantation businessman Endicott, and saving Tibbs from getting lynched.
The show also highlights the power of people who are rich and influential. The chief does not want to face applying the law to people like Endicott (who should be a major suspect in the killing of a potential rival businessman) who could very well be involved due to theirposition of power and perceived threat (having intent), and is instead willing to lock someone lesser up over minimal circumstantial and coincidental evidence.
This is where we see development from Tibbs, who does not want to see an innocent person being held for the crime, his moral sense of duty overriding his personal feelings of resentment towards the racist town and cops and on how he has been and continues to be treated.
He persists on pushing himself forward against mounting opposition, including from both the chief and mayor, to find who actually performed the murder. Tibbs finds he can no longer just leave the town anymore without tying up the case properly.
The movie comes to a satisfying conclusion when Tibbs succeeds in finding the culprit and spilling the light on those actually involved. If I do have one negative to give is that I think the conclusion was rather hasty, I think it was hard to piece it together yourself until the big reveal happens.
The movie could have given some more time to allow the audience to digest a longer conclusion that built up more slowly.
The cinematography of the movie, its shots and scenes, were certainly excellent and very well done. I always enjoy the vibe that these older movies give that I feel newer more modern movies seem to miss. I feel like older movies pay much more attention to background details and extras. It allows you to become more immersed with the setting and time period of the movie.
The chemistry between the two main characters also works well. One, the chief Gillispie, who is hot tempered and quick to resolve even if wrong, and the laid-back Tibbs who is more determined and plays more by the book but is willing to get his hands dirty if needed.
It’s a gritty movie that highlights the real racist issues of the time, localised corruption, racial exploitation, and the influence held by the rich and powerful. But at the same time, it also shows us that unity is necessary to fight against these issues.
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